关键词: 塔里木河, 干流, 河道变化, 人类活动

Abstract: The Tarim River is a main water source supporting the production and life of people lived in south Xinjiang, China, and its change will influence oases and human activities. To date, there was little detailed research about the change of the Tarim River from the 18th Century, duing this period the environment was heavily influenced by human activities. We analyses channel change based on historical documents, historical map and field work. The Tarim River included south mainstream and north mainstream during 1720s until the south mainstream combined into north mainstream in 1750s, and then the mainstream of the Tarim River transfered towards the south mainstream channel during 1810s. The mainstream to west of Shaya moved to the north mainstream channel again during 1910s, and the mainstream to east of Shaya did not change until it moved toward the north mainstream channel and shaped the modern Tarim River in the middle of 1940s. The results also showed that channel change of the Tarim River was a direct result of natural factor change such as climate change etc before the 20th Century, and the influence of over-growing human activities after the 20th Century.

Key words: Tarim River, mainstream, channel change, human activities